Hogan also said then-SAA board chairperson Cheryl Carolus told her that Jet Airways had been lobbying SAA unsuccessfully to stop flying on the Johannesburg-Mumbai route.

SAA's 'most profitable' route

In their book, Basson and Du Toit refer to former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor claiming in October 2010 that Ajay Gupta asked her to use her "influence" to get SAA to abandon the Johannesburg-Mumbai route, which she declined. The Guptas deny ever meeting Mentor.

According to Mentor, then-SAA CEO Siza Mzimela told her at the time that the Johannesburg-Mumbai route was SAA's main and most profitable route and that it would not make sense to close it.

Hogan, meanwhile, was fired by Zuma as public enterprises minister in October 2010 and replaced with Malusi Gigaba. In November last year, the Zondo Commission on State Capture heard how, shortly after his appointment, Gigaba called a meeting between members of the SAA board and the president of Jet Airways, allegedly instructing them to "find one another".

Breakdown

In May 2012 SAA announced that it would be adding flights to the Johannesburg-Mumbai route due to increased demand.

Basson and Du Toit describe how, five months later, Carolus and seven SAA board members, as well as Mzimela and two general managers, stepped down after a "breakdown" in their relationship with the SA government. Dudu Myeni was appointed chair of SAA in January 2013, and in April of that same year, SAA and Jet Airways announced a code-sharing agreement on certain domestic flights in India and SA.

Early in 2015 SAA announced that, after 20 years, it would stop flying to Mumbai due to "financial losses".